The governor gathered the press to his Midtown Manhattan office to announce his administration's reactions to the recent spate of illnesses and fatalities linked to vaping, which now includes 41 cases in New York State. One of the proposals was a subpoena of manufacturers of additives used in illegal marijuana-laced tinctures, which follows state Department of Health findings that many contained dangerous vitamin E acetate, potentially the cause of the ailments.

The governor also announced a new anti-vaping hotline and website, and revealed that a panel he controls will consider obligating all e-cigarette retailers to post signs asserting, "Vaping can expose you to toxic chemicals and kill you." But his own health commissioner conceded at the briefing that the state had not found the acetate in lawful, mass-marketed e-cigarette aerosols.

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"In New York, we have not found that in the commercial products," said Dr. Howard Zucker, the governor's health czar. "All the samples are from black-market products."

Pressed for why the state should issue a warning for all vaping products, and not just black market materials, Zucker and Cuomo suggested that legal aerosols imported from other states might contain the vitamin E acetate—though they furnished no proof.

"We have to err on the side of caution," said Zucker. "We should stop vaping until we have more information about this."

As with traditional tobacco products, the federal Centers for Disease Control discourages vaping, while the Food and Drug Administration permits and regulates it. The governor's office told Crain's that New Yorkers will begin seeing the warning signs in stores within a week.

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